


So you can keep me (Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans)

by daddykink (halogenharry)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: 18-Year-Old Harry, 20-Year-Old Louis, Alternate Universe, Chanukah, Fluff, Forgetful Harry, Hanukkah, I don't understand the difference in the spelling but whatever, Liam is mentioned bc I made him a chef and Louis can't cook, M/M, Niall loves eating like always, Non-Famous AU, fandom hanukkah challenge 2014, untold feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-17
Updated: 2014-12-17
Packaged: 2018-03-01 20:25:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2786549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halogenharry/pseuds/daddykink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once Harry was finished, he set down the book, replacing it with the match box and went to grab the match but was stopped in his tracks. They were out of matches. This had been the last box in the house (Harry had checked four times) and he knew there were three left. He had checked that at least seven times. Harry deadpanned. An hour ago, Niall had come looking for matches to light the scented candles for his Mum and Harry, in the middle of his jitters, had gestured to the matches sitting by the menorah without a second thought, not even realizing what he had done. Now here Harry was, completely making a fool out of himself in front of his closest friends and family. </p><p>or, the AU where Harry is celebrating Hannukah with his family for the first time but he runs out of matches, but luckily for him his neighbor, Louis, decided to take a smoke break</p>
            </blockquote>





	So you can keep me (Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! So the headline is a lyric from Photograph by Ed Sheeran and the prompt for the story came from http://allofthefeelings.tumblr.com/post/104521356215/in-response-to-ameliaratings-point-that-holiday.
> 
> I did my best with all of the Jewish traditions (spent majority of English class looking for all that and worked off what I had learned previously) so if anything seems a little off, feel free to tell me.

The Styles’ household was in full swing as everyone prepared for the first night of Hanukkah. Anne and Gemma were frying the latkes, Niall and Zayn were playing dreidel in the living and Robin was setting up the menora.  

Harry was pacing the house checking on everything because this was their first celebrating Hanukkah altogether since he had discovered Judaism three years earlier. His family and friends were fine with his decision, but this was the first year they finally took an interest themselves. Only twenty more minutes and they would be lighting the menorah as a family for the first time. It meant so much to Harry that his friends and family were taking an interest, but it put him on edge wanting everything to go smoothly. What if the latkes don’t set? What if none of the /sufganiyot/ set properly? What none of the matches worked and they couldn’t light the menorah?

Harry felt a tender hand on his shoulder. he turned to see Robin there, smiling kindly at him. "It'll  all work out." He sounded so sure, so certain, but Harry couldn't shake his nerves. "Everyone's already happy with you for bringing us all together as a family. Everything will be fine."

Harry wanted to believe him. He really did. But nothing could stop his racing mind.

 

 *     *     *     *     *

 

Across the street, the Tomlinson family were throwing their annual Christmas party and the household was practically shaking with the whole clan talking and laughing over the Christmas music in the background. It was headache inducing even after years of doing the same thing which was why Louis had to take a breather. His cousin Betty on his mother’s side three times removed (or something like that, he had lost track) had started bugging him over his future plans and Louis felt like ripping his hair out.

The entire day had been been a thorn in his side from the moment he woke up. The twins ran in at six am, overly excited over the party they had thrown every year since Lottie had turned four. Louis was bored of them after the monotonous sequence of events that occurred every single solitary year, but Daisy and Phoebe were too young to realize it yet, he supposed

After their wake up call, each twin took an arm and dragged him downstairs because they wanted to eat breakfast with their big brother. Louis refrained from going off on them and obliged (making little girls cry wasn’t on his to do list and besides, he would have felt like a prick since he truly loved his girls, he just loved his sleep a lot, too). They had ate cocoa puffs while Daisy and Phoebe talked about princesses and boys at school, one talking over the other as if Louis could catch everything they said. But even though their words sounded like gibberish all rolled together, Louis was expected to give boy advice anyway. Daisy’s crush was into karate and always liked play fighting so Louis, the resident boy expert even though his last relationship lasted him two weeks and and was over a year ago, told her, “Punch him in the nose. You’ll win his heart for sure and probably break his nose, but you can kiss it better so it’s a win-win.”

Daisy giggled and rolled her eyes. “I can’t do that, Louis. I’d get in trouble.”

“Hey, if you don’t want to take my foolproof advice, that’s your loss.”

On the opposite spectrum, Phoebe’s crush had his nose in a book at nearly all times of the day and whenever Phoebe went to talk to him, he barely looked up. She was getting quite discouraged.

Louis sighed. “Phoebe, you shouldn’t be chasing him, you gotta make him chase after you… by stealing his books. How could he stay lost in a book when he can get lost while chasing you all over the school?”

“Louis! I can’t steal his books! That’d be mean!” Daisy and Phoebe fell into a horrible fit of giggles.

“Well, I guess neither of you are really dedicated to winning over your men. It’s a shame, I thought you both had a chance but guess I was wrong.”

Johannah walked into the kitchen in high spirits followed by Lottie, who had obviously just woken up. “Louis, you’re not giving them boy advice again, right? Last time I had to explain to two mothers why their children had come home to find strange goop in their backpacks.”

Daisy sighed heavily. “Mum, it was Amortentia.”

“Yea, Amortentia,” Phoebe echoed. “I was supposed to make the boys fall in love with us.”

“Yea, Mum, Amortentia makes boys fall in love with you,” Louis joined in to Johannah’s disapproval. Louis put his hands up in surrender. “Hey, don’t blame me; blame Harry Potter.”

After the whole dating advice ordeal, Jay, as Louis’ Mum often went by, announced Louis would be cooking this year. She knew that he had never done it before or shown an interest but since he had watched her make all the recipes year after year and he was eldest, she felt it was time for him to give it a shot.

Louis didn’t mind taking a chance and trying new things; what Louis didn’t like was not letting things go that he’s clearly not good at. Living away at college Louis had tried cooking for himself a number of times and every time resulted in a pan of burnt food being thrown in the trash. That’s why Louis had stopped cooking, he felt bad for wasting all that food that other people, who could probably cook, could have eaten and now he felt that he caused multiple families to go hungry due to his determination. But that had only been for himself. His mom was asking him to cook for the whole Tomlinson family.

Though it was bound to be a disaster, Louis agreed to do it because he didn’t want to disappoint his Mother. He loved his Mum too much to tell her no to her face. Louis would never be able to live with himself. So he called Liam up and asked him if he would help him cook for the family (Liam would say he threatened him, but as Louis liked the point out, he had no proof). What truly amazed Louis was even with Liam there, Mr. My Second Major Was In Culinary Arts, majority of the food was inedible and/or burnt. In the end, Jay, Lottie, and Fizzy made the meal quickly in the time they had left.

After the food ordeal Louis hoped to have some time to wind himself down before people began to show, but Phoebe and Daisy had other plans. They wanted to play dress up and, again, Louis being the amazing big brother he is, agreed to play even though he knew they would poke him in the eye with the mascara wand again.

An hour and a half later, he was dressed in his Mum’s gold prom dress with blue and purple eyeshadow nearly up to his hairline (where they were supposed to stop had been a very heated argument), he had been poked in each eye twice with mascara, deep red blush caked on his cheekbones and black lipstick (because it caused a nice contrast, Phoebe had enlightened him). His gaudy look had immensely pleased his sisters, but with the thirty minutes he had left before guests began arriving, which did /not/ please Louis.

Louis had managed but the process left his face stinging and in need of a large cold compress. With the pain in his face and his growing headache from the noise, Louis was in desperate need of a smoke break so he slipped past his Mum and outside.

 

*     *     *     *     *

 

It was time. Robin and Anne had urged Harry to light the first candle as a part of him “coming of age” (they all knew a boy became a man when he was thirteen in Judaism, but since Harry had missed that by a long shot, they felt this was the next best thing). Harry saw it also as a way of unifying the family; he had been skeptical of Robin when he had first started dating his Mum, but once he had gotten to know him, he loved him and served as a great second father figure to him. 

  
Every gathered around Harry as he picked up the Torah and prepared himself to read the blessings. He had been practicing this for weeks and he hoped he was able to pronounce it all correctly. “Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam   
asher kidishanu b'mitz'votav v'tzivanu  
l'had'lik neir shel Chanukah. (Amein)

Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam  
she'asah nisim la'avoteinu bayamim haheim baziman hazeh. (Amein)

Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam  
shehecheyanu v'kiyimanu v'higi'anu laz'man hazeh. (Amein)”  
  
Once Harry was finished, he set down the book, replacing it with the match box and went to grab the match but was stopped in his tracks. They were out of matches. This had been the last box in the house (Harry had checked four times) and he knew there were three left. He had checked that at least seven times. Harry deadpanned. An hour ago, Niall had come looking for matches to light the scented candles for his Mum and Harry, in the middle of his jitters, had gestured to the matches sitting by the menorah without a second thought, not even realizing what he had done. Now here Harry was, completely making a fool out of himself in front of his closest friends and family.   
  
“Harry, dear? What’s wrong?” Anne asked soothingly from behind him.   
  
“We’re out of matches,” Harry said apathetically.  
  
“Oh sweetie, it’s not your fault. Robin and I must have forgotten-”  
  
“I told Niall he could use the matches without thinking. This is my fault.”  
  
Anne wanted to attempt consoling him more, but Harry was already gone and walking outside to get some fresh air. He skipped his coat because he wanted nothing more than to feel the cold air slip through the strands of his sweater and bite at his skin. The block was nicely lit by all the Christmas lights dangling from every surface. From across the way, Harry saw his neighbor, Louis, come out of his house (he had been invited to the Tomlinson Christmas party but had turned down the invitation for obvious reasons). Harry watched the way he walked out, bouncing on the balls of his toes. Louis was the cutest boy Harry had ever come in contact with, but he knew that Louis had never returned his feelings and probably never would. Still, Harry enjoyed talking to him and they had a lot in common so over the years they had stayed good friends.   
  
As Harry watched from a distance, he saw a small light flicker and go out and a light bulb lit up above his head.   
  
“Louis!” Harry called out as he ran over.  
  
Louis was pulled out of his brooding thoughts to find his tall, lanky, adorable neighbor bounding towards him. “Hello, love. How are you on this fine Tuesday evening?”  
  
When Harry got to him, he was a bit out of breath. “Fine, fine. Can I borrow you for a minute? You see, it’s Chanukah and we ran out of matches and you have a lighter and I’ve already said all the blessing prayers.”  
  
Louis tried to catch everything Harry spewed out as he explained his situation. Eventually his mind caught up with him. “Um, yea? That’s fine.” He stomped out his cigarette and followed behind.  
  
Silently, they made their way back over to the Styles’ home. Harry’s family were sat around the living room, discussing how they were going to help Harry when he got back in. Niall shot up out of his chair first. “Harry, I’m so sorry, mate. I shouldn’t have asked about the matches.”  
  
“And I shouldn’t have asked him to light the candles in the first place!” Gemma added.  
  
Harry shook them off. “No, you were all fine. Besides, Louis here has a lighter and though it’s not really traditional, it’ll work for us.” Harry turned to Louis with his hand out. “May I?”  
  
Louis handed him the lighter, a little uncomfortable with the whole situation but happy he could help. He watched as Harry lit the first candle and joined in the applause because the look on Harry’s face was absolutely beautiful as everything came together.   
  
“Now, who wants latkes?” Anne asked.   
  
At the mention of food, Niall ran straight into the kitchen and stood at attention with his plate. “I’m ready, Momma Styles!” he called. The whole family laughed and followed suit, sharing their words of thanks to Louis and admiration to Harry.   
  
Harry and Louis were left staring at the one flickering candle. Louis knew he wasn’t needed anymore but something made him feel obligated to stay. Maybe it was the way Harry didn’t leave along with everyone else to go eat, maybe it was the feeling of an invitation lingering in the air between them or maybe it was his desire to talk to his neighbor like he used to before he had gone off to college. It was impossible not to miss Harry with his adorable curls, deep dimples, cute jokes that were bad sometimes but his love of them made you laugh anyway and, of course, the undying love he expressed towards Louis. Louis had always reciprocated his love which was another thing about Harry, everyone falls in love with him within five minutes of meeting him because he’s incredibly endearing and always made you feel like you’re the only person that matters. But it was different with Louis; that fact was clear to everyone.  
  
Harry made everyone /feel/ like they were the most important person in the world to him, but that never meant they were. As attentive as he was when someone spoke to him, whenever Louis would enter a room, Harry excused himself from the conversation immediately.   
  
Harry constantly made him feel special and Louis adored his affection, he yearned for it, but he couldn’t take it.   
  
Louis was bound to hurt him if they were ever a couple and he couldn’t bear his beautiful cherub sad. Harry took everything he gave him from the chaste kisses in the early morning to the whimpers and hot breath against their sweaty skin to the days in the summer that turned into poolside blowjobs. Harry took it all and held on to it with everything he had and in return gave everything he had to Louis.   
  
“Harry…” Louis began. He searched for the words but it seemed like Harry had other plans.  
  
“You know, Chanukah started in the second century B.C.E. It was a situation that occurred based purely around luck in miracles. One night, Judah Maccabee and the other Jews who took part in rededication of the Second Temple only had enough untainted oil to keep the menorah running for one night, but the flames continued for eight nights and allowed them time to locate more oil.” Harry slowly turned his body to look at Louis. “It makes me think that no matter what you’re left with, something more can come out of that. No matter how little of a relationship is left, if you nurture it enough, it can be rekindled. Do you think that Louis?”  
  
Louis gulped. It was becoming transparent to Louis that he wanted to give Harry a chance. No, rather, he needed to give Harry a chance. Nervously, he nodded, feeling his heart skip a beat as Harry surged towards him and caught his lips in his own. It was a quick kiss, but meant everything after not having kissed in nearly two years.   
  
“You’re always the most beautiful after you’ve been kissed,” Harry whispered, their foreheads still together.  
  
“I’ve always loved you, Harry, I hope you know that. I may not have always shown it, but I did.”  
  
“I know, but even so, I loved loving you the whole time.”

 

 *     *     *     *     *

 

 

After all the latkes and sufganiyot was devoured down to the last crumb, Harry reminded Louis that he should probably be getting back to his own party. “Your Mum and sisters probably miss you by now, it’s been over an hour.” Harry stood and held his hand out for Louis to take, but he stayed put. Upon realizing Louis wasn’t going to budge, Harry sighed and tried to reason with him. “Louis, I’ll walk you to the door and we’ll hang out tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the rest of break, too. We’ll go ice skating and read you some poetry like you always liked and whatever else you want. It’s all up to you.”

  
“Promise?”  
  
“Of course, sweet cheeks, and I always keep my promises.”  
  
Reluctantly, Louis said goodbye to everyone and headed to the door hand in hand with Harry. The cold air rushed past them as they slipped back into it’s clutches, sharing only the warmth of each other. Harry quickly kissed Louis’ nose. “Till tomorrow, my love.” He chastely kissed each of Louis’ cheeks and his forehead then with one last longing look, turned to head inside.   
  
Nerves swelled in Louis once again before he grabbed hold of Harry’s arm. When Harry looked back, Louis’ eyes were wide and he looked years younger than his ripe age of twenty. “I love you… I love you so much.” Louis eyed Harry expectantly. “You know that, right?”  
  
“Of course I do, Lou. You’ve always told me you loved me.”  
  
Louis shook his head. “I know, but I mean… Harry, I /really/ love you.”  
  
Harry kissed his forehead again, smoothing over his soft hair and chuckling to himself. “And I /really/, /really/ love you. Now, your Mum must be looking for you by now and I don’t want to make Jay worry. Goodnight, my love.”  
  
He headed inside, but not without one last smile at Louis.  
  
Louis could still feel his lips on his forehead and his hand in his. It was nice, comforting even like… home. Harry was home and the one true constant in his life besides his family. He was everything Louis loved in one large, goofy, extra kind person who constantly made him happy even when he was sad. It was like the saying, “Home is where the heart is.” Harry was his home and he had his heart.  
  
Before leaving, Louis whispered, “Goodnight, Harry.” Louis walked back to his yard virtually shaking with anticipation for the next day. He was spending the day with Harry, /his/ Harry, and nothing could ruin that for him. He walked past his now forgotten cigarette, only glancing back once more before forcing himself back into the warmth of his home.

**Author's Note:**

> My twitter is @dramioune and my tumblr is dramioune.tumblr.com!


End file.
